Waitresses
by newyorkgirl911
Summary: "What do you say? New girl gets to check out the New Boy?" Everlark, hinted Clato - OneShot


"Look!"

"Here they come."

"Great."

"Finally. I was thinking that they'd missed their lunch break."

Katniss looked up from where she was straightening the cutlery, trying to figure out what three of the other staff - Clove, Glimmer, and Gale- were talking about. "What's going on?" she inquired, placing the salt shaker down and looking over her shoulder curiously.

Haymitch Abernathy - owner of the little café they all worked at - stepped out from the back, shaking his head ruefully. "Don't mind them." He glanced at Clove and Glimmer, who were straightening their aprons and stroking their hair, "They always do this." he nodded towards the large window with a small scowl.

For the first time, Katniss noticed a trio of men walking in the direction of the café. They looked extremely sweaty and hot, but each of them had a small grin which made her heart flutter oddly.

"Every day." Gale said, but he looked mildly amused at the two girls, who were biting their lips in attempt to attract the attention of the men.

"Ooh. Clo!" Glimmer was bouncing in place. "There's a new one today."

She had an urge to stare, but passed it off with a small glance. They were all quite mucky, and she assumed that they were all mechanics who worked at Mallory Mechanic's.

"Who are they?"

"They're regulars. They come in at least once a week." Clove leaned in, conspiratorially, pointing. "The big beefy one is Cato McCarty. He's a complete flirt."

"And totally interested in Clove," Glimmer pointed out. She swept her curled locks aside, looking slightly put out.

"And the brunette? That's Marvel Whitlock. He's _quite_ the charmer." Clove added, completely blanking Glimmer. She pointed a manicured finger in the direction of the tallest, grinning boy.

"He's got a Southern drawl that will make your knees weak." Glimmer fanned herself. "And like I said, that one," he pointed at the guy in the middle, "is brand new."

"Holy crap." They were at the door now, so Clove dropped her voice to a whisper. "Newbie is edible."

Edible, Clove said.

There was something about the man that struck Katniss, which was unusual. Typically speaking, physical attributes meant little to her. She was indifferent to type and didn't feel attraction unless there was something else to latch onto. Pretty faces were a dime a dozen, but beautiful people were rare. This man seemed so much different. He had a small, friendly smile whilst the other two had cocky smirks. His eyes were a clear blue; from a distance, it was strikingly obvious he was extremely attractive. Katniss rubbed the back of her neck, feeling her cheeks heat with some strange emotion.

Beside her, Gale chuckled. "What do you think? New girl gets to find out about the new boy?"

"Oh, hell no," Glimmer said before Katniss could answer. Grinning, she playfully hip checked Katniss out of the way. "It's my table, and I call dibs."

Chuckling, Katniss concentrated on finishing her task. The busy lunch rush was about to start, and she was nowhere near having completed her task of replacing salt on each table. Still, even as she worked, she found herself glancing over at the table with the three men. More often than not, her eyes lingered on the new one. She couldn't help but smile a tiny bit when she noticed that Peeta wasn't responding to Glimmer's attempts at flirting.

The new mechanic's name was Peeta Mellark. As Katniss had seen, Glimmer reported that he had only returned a small grin. Clove tried her luck the next week with much the same results. However much she had fluttered her eyelashes and flipped her long black hair, only the other two seemed interested, According to Gale, he'd moved to this area just recently, but he'd lived in Seattle for the last three years. He was twenty-two years old. He had recently bought his own place near-by. Katniss hoped for a second, that possibly _she_ could serve the three men next week.

That last part was not something Katniss added to the gossip mill. In the five weeks she'd been working at Abernathy's Café, she hadn't had a chance to talk to him. The café was always busy, but even in a rush, her eyes were drawn over to that little table.

The others had no problem indulging in fantasies, but Katniss only smiled casually at them, not joining in. Clove seemed to be hitting it off with Cato, and Glimmer seemed to be annoyed how Clove was earning the attention of the biggest one. Sometimes, Katniss swore she could feel Peeta's eyes on her. But every time she turned her head to return the gaze, he snapped his eyes away and started hastily chatting with Marvel.

But that was ridiculous. Wasn't it?

"Katniss."

Katniss's head snapped up and her cheeks flushed, knowing she'd been caught daydreaming. It was late afternoon, and the café had calmed to a dull roar. Gale just chuckled. "I think you have a customer at table seven."

"I do?"

Her eyes found Table Seven, and she cussed under her breath. Sat patiently waiting, was a blonde dreamboat – Peeta Mellark. Her face felt hot. She was _not_ ready for this; she'd planned out going over to the table of three boys and avoiding eye contact with the gorgeous blonde, but now he sat – completely alone – in the corner.

"Okay." she inhaled deeply, before walking quickly behind the counter to collect her notepad and pencil. Setting her jaw firmly, she strutted over to Table Seven. Katniss didn't understand why she was so nervous – she'd been waiting for a long time for this moment.

He didn't look up immediately, but waited until she was right next to the table before even acknowledging her. Clearing her throat and straightening her dress, she gave a restricted smile. "Um, hi." she watched him anxiously. Up close, his eyes were even clearer; the baby blue stood out in comparison to his blonde lashes, which fluttered every time he blinked.

To her utter surprise, he grinned easily and looked up, "Finally."

"Excuse me?" she replied after a couple of seconds of silence, furrowing her brow.

"I was wondering when you'd serve me." his smile didn't falter, despite her bemused and annoyed expression. Katniss was an independent, strong person and she felt like, already, he had made her vulnerable.

"You were?"

"Yeah. You seem so much more … interesting." his pushed his blonde fringe aside, supporting his weight on his arm, "Well, more than that blonde who flips her hair too much."

He casually glanced across the room, and looked at Glimmer, who was chuckling at something Gale had said. Peeta grinned. His perfectly straight teeth made her stomach feel like it had flipped round several times, "Well, um," she made a mental note never to flip her hair in front of him, "Thanks."

He threw his head back and laughed, a clear laugh which chimed through the air like a bell. She couldn't really get over how attractive he was, and how perfect his every feature was.

"Welcome."

"So, what would you like?" she said quickly, to break to silence which hung over both of them.

"Hm," he thought, "How about a date?"

"Sorry?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"You heard me. A date. At seven, tomorrow night, here?"

"I ..." she choked on her own words, "A date? With me?"

"That is what I said." he still had a wide smile on, and his eyebrows were raised in a friendly manner, "So how bout it?"

"Uh," she choked.

She wanted to jump into his lap and say, with a huge smile, _of course_ she would _love_ to go on a date with him and that she'd been eyeing him up for a month now, and this was her dream. But her sense overcame her, so here she stood, spluttering over this boy.

He waited patiently, a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised.

"A date. Okay." she concluded, "Is … um that, it?"

"And a coffee." he said, continuing like absolutely nothing weird had happened between them. With a slightly disbelieving expression, she nodded swiftly and turned around, flicking her braid to the side. She breathed out as she walked back toward Glimmer and Clove, who were chatting happily. As she left, he called out behind her, "See you tomorrow."

Katniss returned, placing the pencil down and frowning at the table, "Are you okay?" Glimmer questioned.

"Yeah, yeah." she breathed, "Great."

"So, what happened with the new boy?" Clove cut in before Glimmer could say anything else, leaning against the counter and twiddling the ends of her long, dark hair.

Katniss shrugged, "He asked me for a coffee." she lied smoothly, unwilling to share how he'd asked her on a date, "That's it."

"Sure?" Clove asked, raising one eyebrow. Katniss nodded swiftly, avoiding eye contact with the other two and started briskly walking toward the kitchen. Gale greeted her as she walked past, but she ignored him, too immersed in her thoughts; Clove had asked a good question.

_What just happened_?


End file.
